Sports

Lundstrom merits early hook, Aces buried 6-2 in Idaho

The promising glide forward Niklas Lundstrom and the Alaska Aces took Tuesday night was negated Wednesday night by some serious back-sliding from all.

The Idaho Steelheads strafed Lundstrom for four goals on their first six shots to send the rookie goaltender bench-bound after just 13 minutes on their way to a 6-2 ECHL cruise at CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho.

The circumstances that prompted Aces coach Rob Murray to give Lundstrom the hook, and the result, removed the glow from Alaska's 3-1 win one night earlier, when Lundstrom's 30 saves proved his best performance for the club.

Even when the Aces (3-9-0) gave themselves a glimmer of hope late in the game, the Steelheads (8-3-1) snuffed it. Jason Gregoire's goal late in the second period to snap his six-game point drought and defenseman Colten Hayes' strike early in the third period combined with Andy Iles' strong work in Lundstrom's stead to cut Idaho's lead to 4-2.

And then the Steelheads used goals from Wade MacLeod and Jason Bast just 1:54 apart midway through the period to kill any suspense.

That flurry finally buried Alaska's chance of winning consecutive hockey games for the first time this ECHL season.

The Aces' chances were severely crippled almost from the drop of the puck.

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David de Kastrozza roofed the game's first shot on Lundstrom, just 30 seconds in. Former UAF winger Colton Beck -- he had delivered at least one point in nine of his 10 games -- also beat Lundstrom upstairs at the four-minute mark. Steve Quailer beat Lundstrom with a deflection inside eight minutes and MacLeod followed with his first of two goals off an Aces turnover about 13 minutes in.

Exit Lundstrom and his .860 save percentage.

Enter Iles, another rookie, who stopped 23 of 25 shots.

Idaho held the Aces' productive line of Tim Coffman centering wingers Olivier Archambault and Greg Wolfe in check with rookie goalie Henri Kiviaho (24 saves) and company. Wolfe lost his seven-game point streak, and Archambault and Coffman had their five-game point streaks vanquished.

That again shined the spotlight on Alaska's lack of secondary scoring. Brendan Connolly has just one goal and six points in 12 games. Chris Francis has just one goal and four points in 11 games. Rookie winger Ryan Tesink has just one goal in 12 games, and rookie wingers Zach Pochiro and Jacob Doty have yet to score in eight games each.

Idaho's six goals matched the most Alaska has surrendered in a game this season.

The Aces don't have time for laments. They are scheduled to fly home Thursday and Friday they open a three-game homestand against the Stockton Thunder to complete a run of nine games in 12 days.

Shuffling the deck

Archambault (7-6—13 totals in 12 games) and Idaho's Bast (10-3—13 in 12 games) are tied for the league lead in rookie scoring.

Idaho's Beck sits tied for fourth in rookie scoring with 4-8—12 totals in 10 games.

Aces winger Justin Johnson fought twice and received two instigator penalties, a misconduct and a game misconduct. The misconduct comes with an automatic $25 fine -- Aces defenseman Tyler Currier and Steelheads defenseman Eammon McDermott each picked up a misconduct too -- and the game misconduct comes with an automatic $40 fine.

The two instigator penalties also put Johnson at risk. Under ECHL rules, a third regular-season instigator penalty warrants an automatic one-game suspension.

Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr

Aces 0 1 1 -- 2

Idaho 4 0 2 -- 6

First Period – 1, Idaho, de Kastrozza 5 (Karlsson, Vance), :30; 2, Idaho, Beck 4 (McDermott, Livingston), 4:02; 3, Idaho, Quailer 2 (Case, Bast), 7:17; 4, Idaho, MacLeod 4 (Livingston), 13:04. Penalties – Vance, Idaho, major (fighting), 13:09; Johnson, Aces, minor-major (instigator, fighting), 13:09; Vance, Idaho (hooking), 19:35.

Second Period – 5, Aces, Gregoire 3 (Connolly, Syvret), 16:00. Penalties – Dodero, Idaho, major (fighting), 7:09; Tesink, Aces, major (fighting), 7:09; Hayes, Aces (roughing), 7:09; Johnson, Aces (misconduct), 7:09; Archambault, Aces (slashing), 10:34; Quailer, Idaho (tripping), 11:02; Case, Idaho (delay of game), 19:24.

Third Period – 6, Aces, Hayes 1 (Gregoire), 1:38; 7, Idaho, MacLeod 5 (Patterson), 11:17; 8, Idaho, Bast 10 (Belzile, Huff), 13:11. Penalties – Gregoire, Aces (holding), 4:37; Patterson, Idaho (boarding), 13:31; Currier, Aces (misconduct), 13:31; Cullity, Idaho (slashing), 14:10; Coffman, Aces (interference), 14:10; McDermott, Idaho, minor-misconduct (roughing), 16:23; Valentine, Idaho, double-minor (roughing), 16:23; Pochiro, Aces, double-minor (roughing), 16:23; Johnson, Aces, minor-major-game misconduct (instigator, fighting), 16:23.

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Shots on goal – Aces 10-7-9—26. Idaho 10-9-12—31.

Power-play Opportunities – Aces 0 of 5. Idaho 0 of 5.

Goalies – Aces, Lundstrom, 2-6-0 (6 shots-4 saves); Iles, enter 13:04 1st period (25-23). Idaho, Kiviaho, 2-1-1 (26-24).

A – 3,390 (5,006). T – 2:36.

Referee – Peter MacDougall. Linesmen – Scott DeBaugh, Andrew Wetzel.

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

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